Israeli forces have razed the Bedouin village of Al Arakib in the north Negev five times since last July, sparking cries of ethnic cleansing and leaving more than 300 Bedouin homeless [GALLO/GETTY]
Published On 14 Oct 201014 Oct 2010
But determined residents, along with a handful of Jewish activists, continue to rebuild [GALLO/GETTY]
Advertisement
The Israeli government claims that Al Arakib was abandoned and, as such, belongs to the state [GALLO/GETTY]
It calls the Bedouin "squatters" who "infiltrate" the area and settle it illegally [GALLO/GETTY]
Villagers, some of whom hold Ottoman-era deeds to the property, say that the Israeli army asked them to leave temporarily in 1951. Believing that they would be able to move back, they left [GALLO/GETTY]
But the Bedouin continued to cultivate the village land, harvesting pomegranates, olive and other produce. And more than a decade ago, they rooted themselves in Al Arakib once again, building houses and families [GALLO/GETTY]
Just days before the village was destroyed for the first time, Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, spoke of his fears of the Negev becoming "a region without a Jewish majority" [GALLO/GETTY]
Advertisement
Oren Yiftachel, a geography and urban studies professor, says the plight of the residents of Al Arakib "serves as a reminder that citizenship in Israel is very unequal" [GALLO/GETTY]
